Evil Is As Evil Does
by ThePink1 at Reefside.Net
Summary: A Mystic Prequel about everybody's favorite pair of shapeshifters.
1. Chapter 1

_**Evil Is As Evil Does**_

A Mystic Prequel

By: _**A J**_

(Standard Disclaimer Applies)

**Author's Warning!** This work of fanfiction is a long-term look at the relationship of two adults, moreover two _villains_, and as such, I'm not gonna pull any punches. This means Language, Nudity, Violence, and Sex! If any of those are not for you, turn back now, and read some of the gentler fictions by others and myself. For those with some fortitude, let's get on to the story.

Chapter One_: Cedric and Miranda_

The alarms were sounding _again_, ruining what little sleep he'd been able to get that night. _"Ssomebody kill that idiot sso the rest of uss _can_ resst!"_ Cedric hissed. He sat back on his tail, looking out through the energy barrier of his cell, to where Frost was habitually kept.

The blue-skinned maniac was loose again, after having thrown himself at his own cell's retention field repeatedly until he had overcome the painful energy field's 'shock to the system'. He'd simply charged through by sheer force of will after that.

The guards of Torus Filney were even now fighting a losing battle trying to recapture Frost, and the ensuing noise was what had reawakened Cedric. The former Knight of Vengeance, fueled by the bitterness of his long imprisonment, was determinedly battling his way out one guard at a time, and occasionally two or more when they bunched too close together. Never mind that he was one of the most notorious criminals on the three continents of Metamoor, with no hope of staying hidden even if he made good on his escape.

The last part was what had convinced Cedric to stay put for the time being. Oh, he had every intention of escaping as well. But he had many, _many_ plans to put in place beforehand. He grinned toothily. _'And the first has presented itself quite handily. Time to get in the guards' good graces …'_

Cedric lumbered over to the energy wall just as a well-known _(and well-hated!)_ green form came slamming up against the stone column between his cell and Miranda's. "Ah, Aldarn," the great snake-man hissed. "If you'd let me out of here, I'd gladly ssubdue him for you." At the look of blatant shock on the former rebel's face, Cedric's toothy grin flashed again. "Anything for our dear Queen … and a good night'ss ssleep." He let his tail tip curl in amusement at the subsonic chuckle Miranda let out. _"Patiencse, my dear," _he replied, in a rumble too low for the mammals to hear. _"Our chancse will come ssoon."_

"Give him hell from me, Cedric," Miranda egged, still furious with Frost even after their many months of incarceration.

Cedric eyed Aldarn expectantly. When a second guard, much less experienced and sturdy than the green-skinned security chief, careened past to land with a sickening 'crunch', Cedric raised one crimson eyebrow in an eloquent silent question.

"I'll regret this, I know it," Aldarn swore as he reached out and pressed the plate that would release the giant half-serpent. "One trick, one scale towards the exit, and I'll make sure you don't need locked back up. Are we clear, Cedric?"

Bowing from the waist, Cedric replied, "Crysstaline, Aldarn, I assure you." He coiled out the door, and grabbed a third guard from the air who had come flailing his way from the melee. Setting the poor man down, he hissed "Leave him to me."

At a barely-heard scraping sound, Frost looked up from where he was pounding on two more guards, while a third hung futilely from his neck. All he saw was a giant green fist before he was sent crashing backward into the energy barrier of old Kubrast's cell. Though the shock barely fazed him, it was enough to knock out the nameless plebian still hanging on his neck. Cedric calmly pushed the last two men out of harm's way with his tail, while cracking his knuckles loudly. (It was an intimidation move he'd seen on Earth television.)

The popping noise got Frost's attention. With a profane roar, the blue-skinned hunter leaped back towards him. Cedric ducked down and whipped his tail into Frost's path, intercepting with a bone-jarring '_snap!_' and flinging him into the barrier of the opposite cell.

Frost stood back up. Licking his fingers, he put out the end of his smoking beard. "Whaddiya think that was gonna accomplish, _Lord Cedric?"_ He slurred the last into a vile epithet. "The Guardian Leader hits with more oomph than these cell walls. Knockin' me into 'em's just keepin' me _awake."_ He punched the barrier next to him in emphasis. The energy coruscated up his arm and around his body, with no apparent ill effect. Cedric could hear Aldarn swear behind him.

Frost popped his neck and rolled his shoulders to flex his arms better. "So, how many knots d'ya think I can tie you into, Cedric? I aim to find out." With a warcry, he charged forward.

Cedric rolled back on his tail to take the impact, then coiled around Frost before he could dance away. The blue villain laughed and slugged him hard and fast in the stomach. Unfortunately for Frost, when Cedric's nerves seized up from the blow, his coils tightened even more in reflex, so they were both robbed of breath. Frost started thrashing and punching in sudden panic, and Cedric flipped them over, trying to bury the hunter in his coils.

The two prisoners rolled back and forth, trading blows and curses. Finally, Cedric got both of Frost's arms by the wrists, and his legs contained in an ever-tightening tail-wrap. Frost kept struggling anyway, twisting his body to use elbows and hips as blunt weapons. Cedric waited this out for more than a minute, then simply reared back and head-butted the blue idiot with his fore-crest. Battered, exhausted, and (despite personal delusions of grandeur) hopelessly out of his league, Frost dropped like a rock.

Cedric casually tossed Frost back into his cell, lumbered forward, and tripped the old stone slab door down. With a superior sneer in Aldarn's direction, he calmly slithered into his cell, blowing a kiss in Miranda's direction as he passed.

"I trusst that thrashing wass ssatissfactory, my dear?" Her enthusiastic cheers, delivered in her diminutive adolescent human form for maximum volume, were glorious music to his ears. Turning back just as Aldarn reenergized his cell door, Cedric smiled his toothy grin once more.

"My thankss for that welcome bit of exercize," he said to the still-shaken guard captain. "Now to ssleep in peacse. Oh, and Aldarn …" The green man's skull-spikes gleamed redly in the torchlight as he looked back questioningly. "If you could ssee fit to ssupply uss changerz with a bit more ssusstenancse … ssay, a larvek every few weeks, perhaps? We'd find the accomodationss much more … _humane."_ At the last word, Cedric transformed back into his blond-haired human form. His next smile to the head of Torus Filney may not have been as pointy, but it was no less predatory.

Aldarn took his leave with a disgruntled wave and a "We shall see … and … thanks, Cedric …" The last two words were so low, Cedric was sure only he and Miranda could hear them.

When the hallway was once more under orderly control, Miranda chittered to him subsonically. _"You really are _too much_, milord. And I love you all the more for it. But please, hurry our departure. I can feel things … _settling_ … even now …"_

Cedric sat back up in his bed, thinking again of how she'd looked as he slithered to and from his cell tonight. Yes, the signs were there, Despite their inadequate diet, she _was_ gaining the excess weight, and the accompanying sluggishness would surely be detectable to even the humans and lurdens soon, as it was already showing to him. Her molt was approaching, and he'd be damned if he'd allow it to happen in this dismal place. Time to move along their plans, indeed …


	2. Chapter 2

_**Evil Is As Evil Does**_

A Mystic Prequel

By: _**A J**_

(Standard Disclaimer Applies)

**Author's Warning!** This work of fanfiction is a long-term look at the relationship of two adults, moreover two _villains_, and as such, I'm not gonna pull any punches. This means Language, Nudity, Violence, and Sex! If any of those are not for you, turn back now, and read some of the gentler fictions by others and myself. For those with some fortitude, let's get on to the story.

Chapter Two_: The Unknown Soldier_

Miranda awoke with a fever. It had been several days since Frost's aborted escape, and she had felt steadily worse each morning. Even the sameling Aldarn had noticed that she wasn't well, and Cedric was worried that she would be moved before he could affect their escape. She chattered softly to him now, hoping she could make herself understood between her chattering teeth as a sweat-chill overtook her.

"_Cedric-k … Cedric-k! Awak-ke, my lordling … I've need of your soothing c-company …"_ she finally managed through her shivers. Miranda burrowed into the abundant blankets on her cot, suddenly glad of the misplaced loyalty still shown her by Elyon and Raythor.

The young Queen had never taken Miranda's siding with Prince Phobos personally. Elyon had consistently maintained her belief that the spider-shifter was merely misled and in need of a decent deprogramming, whatever that was. Miranda never had the heart (or gall) originally, or the opportunity later, to just tell the little bleeding-Heart Queen of fools that she'd done all that she had for her love of Cedric. Apparently Elyon hadn't heard what happened in Candracar at the end.

Raythor was another story. When her shifter family had been discovered and captured, then executed by Phobos when they refused to serve as his willing spies and stooges, she alone had been spared. Phobos had considered her young enough to reeducate, yet old enough to survive the brutal training he devised. Ray had been the soldier regularly assigned to her keeping, and in time had come to think of Miranda as a daughter of sorts.

That had included a practical – if haphazard – education by the old guard on top of her learning the subversive dogma the Prince wished. Raythor also endeared himself to her later, keeping her safe (when he could) from Frost's less-than-tender appetites when they three were among Nerissa's Knights of Vengeance. His comprehensive instruction in dirty in-fighting, a must for someone her size, had kept her safe when he couldn't, thankfully.

Miranda snapped free from her inner musings at Cedric's answer. _"You_ _are awake, my dear? Good newss, indeed. Even better, for the ssecond of our requesstss iss about to be granted. Fressh game has been ssent to uss changerss, no doubt at the urgingss of Aldarn and the traitor, Raythor."_ She could imagine the sneer on his aquiline features during that last part, and clattered irritably back.

"_He is loyal where he sees fit, milord. C-konsider where Phobos or Nerissa's winning would have left the rest of us, and his defec-ktion is nothing more than Raythor siding with his c-konscience."_

"_And hiss ssiding againsst uss at the end?"_ Cedric sounded more bored than anything else, but they'd had this argument before.

"_He chose Metamoor, which he thought we were turning our back-k's on,"_ she answered simply. In her own way, she could be as loyal to Raythor. _"It mak-kes no difference now, Cedric-k."_

"_No, it doessn't. From here on, we've only oursselvess to depend on, my dear. And that sstartss with getting you _out_ of here … tonight."_

Miranda sat bolt upright, spilling blankets around her. Tonight? Oh, if she were well enough to move still by then, she'd go, and gladly. _"Tonight, my love? Is all else in readiness, then?"_

"_No,"_ he sighed back. _"But we really have no other choicse, now. Do we?"_

"_No,"_ she echoed. Any contemplation she undertook of her impending molt, and the resulting violent ravenous frenzy she would emerge in from it, quickly conjured images of her speedy execution 'for safety's sake' by the leery guards of Torus Filney. _"Tonight, then. Let me rest, and I shall be that much more ready. Until then, my lord."_ With that, she curled back up in her nest of blankets, doing her best to quell her body's sweats and shivers.

Cedric sat back, giving their impending departure serious thought. He still had several details to work out, certainly. But he had one resource he hadn't let on to anyone else, not even Prince Phobos.

Telepathically calling a scurrying rodent to him from the passageway, he gave the simple-minded creature a scrap of parchment and a delivery command. The blue-furred Meridian mouse chattered in place for a moment, chewed on one corner of the note, then scampered off on its errand. Cedric sighed, and waited.

And waited.

When he was despairing that he would have to repeat the process with something less likely to _eat_ the missive, his messenger returned, in the grip of his note's recipient.

"So good to see you where you belong, Lord Cedric," the young guard holding his mouse-servant drawled.

"It pleassess me to ssee you, too," Cedric rumbled, then changed back to his human shape. He then proceeded to whisper. "You know why I never let the Prince know of your appointment to the rebel guard. Your position allows you to do as you must. As you were trained to do … by us. Miranda and I have need of those skills … tonight, my friend. An hour after our meals are delivered, the remains will have to be disposed of. Simply see to it that you are part of that duty contingent tonight, and you will be well rewarded, as was promised."

"What of the Prince himself?" Delivered amusedly, casually, as if he were collecting idle gossip.

"His time will come, friend. But considerably more care must be taken before then, whereas tonight … trouble yourself not, friend. Tonight is necessary, know that. Serve well, and all will be well. And … my thanks."

"For what?" his visitor queried quietly. "I've done nothing, as yet."

"Your mere appearance bodes well. Anything more, I thank you for ahead of time, for I may not be in a position to express it adequately later." Cedric bowed formally, and the guard gave him the barest of nods. It was all the acknowledgement any of them would give to a prisoner, though Cedric had garnered no small amount of admiration among them with his recapture of Frost. His visitor was more surprised that the snake-changer hadn't tried to utilize that in his favor, instead of calling in this particular mark now when he could hardly benefit from it.

"A good day to you then, Cedric. Oh, what of your little pet?" He held up the blue mouse.

"See that Miranda gets him, with … my … complementss," Cedric replied, returning to his half-snake form with a hiss. He proceeded to heft his meager furniture around in a muscular display. "I musst sstay in sshape, no?" he added blandly, for the benefit of anyone watching.

"By all means. We know who to come to the next time Frost tries to get loose. Just don't break it. Replacements are a long time coming." With that the guard sauntered off, pausing only to slip the mouse into Miranda's cell, the note still tied on his tail.

When Miranda found and devoured him later, she sighed like any love-struck teen girl at the simple message:

_Thinking of you, Ced_

(The rodent had chewed off the rest of his name.)


	3. Chapter 3

_**Evil Is As Evil Does**_

A Mystic Prequel

By: _**A J**_

(Standard Disclaimer Applies)

**Author's Warning!** This work of fanfiction is a long-term look at the relationship of two adults, moreover two _villains_, and as such, I'm not gonna pull any punches. This means Language, Nudity, Violence, and Sex! If any of those are not for you, turn back now, and read some of the gentler fictions by others and myself. For those with some fortitude, let's get on to the story.

Chapter Three_: Caves and Cravings_

Miranda came to with a shudder. Poking her head out of the tattered blanket Cedric had bidden her to stay wrapped in, she blinked at the wan daylight setting over the midden heap surrounding her. _"Cedric-k?"_ she subvocalized, her chitter almost a whimper. The last thing she remembered clearly was the door of her cell being let down for dinner.

'_Well,'_ she amended to herself a second later. _'Almost the last thing.'_ She also remembered the red haze that overtook her at the sight of the hatching larvek egg they'd wheeled into her hated prison. The hasty retreat of the guards – had one been Raythor? – also resurfaced dimly. But that, aside from the unconscious shift of her form and the first delicious crunch of larvek chitin under her fangs, was all. Now …

Miranda took in her new surroundings better as a fresh chill swept over her. She knew this area; Torus Filney was to the north of Meridian City, past the Torruk Hills. That reminded her of the cave complex she'd helped the Queen block off when Phobos had escaped last. Miranda grinned around another shudder. It meant she had somewhere to while away her molt safely, at least.

She set out for the Hill of Four Caves, as she'd begun to think of it back then. Pulling her blanket tighter around herself at the next shudder, she kept her eyes open for any surface guards, and for fresh game. That larvek hatchling hadn't gone far.

_Evil is_

Cedric grinned at the wall between his cell and Miranda's. The larvek was settling in nicely. With any luck the sullen silences his petite paramour was prone to would work in their favor, and he could take his time perfecting the sound-alike spells before the guards became suspicious. His contact in the guard contingent walked by just then.

"Evening, Lord Cedric. I trust that meal was satisfactory?" he drawled.

"Better by leaps and bounds than the usual glop, anyway," Cedric said, with a smirk. He stood from his bed. "I understand there was no problem with the cleanup?"

"Why, none, now that you mention it. Thank you for asking, though." His favorite guard looked back and forth. "I am surprised you didn't go as well, Milord," he continued in a whisper. "Won't she be vulnerable alone?"

"Oh, Miranda will be fine," Cedric slurred, transforming once again. "A good meal, a little resst, and ssome exsercsisse, and sshe'll be better than ever." He stretched his coils around his room, grinning that he could reach almost all the way back to his outstretched hand with his length all along the perimeter. He reversed himself once, stretching the other way, then shifted back to human form. "Ahhhh, much better."

"Until next shift then, you shiftless snake," the brown-haired man grumbled, stalking off. Both grinned when he was away for a job well done.

_Evil does_

The first thing Miranda did when she got to her new temporary abode was strengthen the webs over both entrances. The second was to eat the hermeneuta bachelor who lived a hill over. Then she crawled into her chosen hideaway and slept.

Wracking pain awoke her several hours later, and she shivered and sweated through a succession of chills and heat flashes until it passed. Nearly an hour after she'd been so rudely awakened, it all abruptly stopped.

'_Another quick meal, and something tells me this better be a big one,'_ she thought to herself. Taking off to the edge of the nearby Bog of Eternal Stench, Miranda kept her eyes open for possible prey, and her ears for possible pursuit. She still didn't know how soon Cedric would manage his own release.

'_Ah, and here comes supper …'_ she gulped, grinning, as an allodile pup surged out of a brackish pond and snatched up a smaller kipli. Miranda transformed while the aquatic reptile fed, then with a quick snap of webbing she grabbed and garroted it with one move. Hauling it the rest of the way out of the water and back to her cave was easy work in her spider-form. She settled in to savor an allodile-with-kipli-and-cress stew for dinner. She threw the bones into her small fire to crack later for the marrow, and curled up once again to sleep.

The same pangs woke her again, and she knew then that her time was up. Miranda kicked several stones into her fire to heat the cave better, then took her shredded blanket into the far corner. Instinct took over, and she found herself transformed again, spinning a cocoon around herself that spanned the rear of her cave. The last coherent thought she remembered later when asked was something she'd overheard from the ditzy Air Guardian: _"Wait'll they get a look at ME!"_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Evil Is As Evil Does**_

A Mystic Prequel

By: _**A J**_

(Standard Disclaimer Applies)

**Author's Warning!** This work of fanfiction is a long-term look at the relationship of two adults, moreover two _villains_, and as such, I'm not gonna pull any punches. This means Language, Nudity, Violence, and Sex! If any of those are not for you, turn back now, and read some of the gentler fictions by others and myself. For those with some fortitude, let's get on to the story.

Chapter Four_: Escapes and Entrances_

Cedric grinned sardonically as he looked over his latest working. The second larvek was adjusting slowly to its new home, the sound-alike spell was already in place, and his Guardsman friend had been forewarned to spread word of a 'shedding problem' that would make him more sullen for a while. Cedric himself coiled in a dark corner behind his shoved-over bed, regathering his energies. Taking a page from Phobos' book of inequities, Cedric made a small _mana-_net & set it to revitalize him through the night, when no one would notice the debilitation.

That had been Phobos' largest display of arrogance: the open oppression of Meridian's population, instead of the quiet syphoning of the vital force of Metamoor for his own nefarious purposes. He certainly never would have raised the ire of Candracar or the inevitable rebellion against him if he'd maintained a more genial face.

Determined now to do better himself, Cedric let the net do its work until dawn, then used the gathered power to shrink himself as he transformed. The rest of Torus Filney's slow-waking population discounted his moans and the loud pop of joints as his usual morning calisthenics.

Using the last of his stolen energy, he phased himself through the mesh grating leading to the sewers. Then calling on his memory of the floorplans of the prison, he set out for freedom.

_Evil Is_

A sharp crack, a slick pop, and a moist tearing sound heralded Miranda's return to the waking world. Her new-and-improved body lowered itself slowly to the cave floor, and she let her eyes adjust from her molt. Something had definitely changed, she realized, as she could now see up and out the next cave in the step-staggered system, where she couldn't before.

She was also aware of new, longer, _extra_ limbs, and looking down, she took in the splendor of her new form. A nubile woman's body from head to waist greeted her gaze, and she gloried in her new curves, but below that … Her spider-shifter heritage had gifted her with an arachnid half from the waist down, with six sleek, multi-jointed legs holding her in the corner, an organic pinwheel leaned against the wall. Miranda lifted each once, marveling in her new limbs, then resolutely stepped toward her guttered firepit.

She nearly crashed into it, as her new higher center of gravity and her extra limbs worked to propel him farther and faster than she was used to. She was suddenly glad Cedric had effected her lone escape; Much as she loved him, she couldn't bear the thought of him seeing her at this clumsy stage.

With a half hour's practice, Miranda got herself mobile. The happy discovery that she now had _three_ forms to choose from instead of two made her grin manically. Her fully-humanoid form was everything she could have hoped for, if a tad under-clothed. Her old junior miss' jumper was wholly inadequate to cover her now-curvaceous form, though it was just long enough – if a tad tight across the bust – to cover her human upper half. Tying her tattered blanket around her waist gave her a sarong-like skirt.

The outfit was mostly decorous on her new melded form, as her upper body streamlined slightly, while her lower spider half branched out monstrously. Her completely arachnid body was leaner, stronger, even more flexible, and to her delight, much less hirsute. That had been the next pleasant surprise, considering the mane of hair her adult humanoid forms both sported. Her hair had originally been past her midback in her adolescent form – _forms,_ now that she thought it over. Now, her spider-forms were all smooth chitin and sleek power waiting for a target to tackle.

Thinking that, Miranda chittered in frustration; she'd already disposed of her hermeneuta neighbor, and her hunger after her molt was easily as great as it had been just before the metamorphosis. It occurred to her suddenly that she was capable of so much more, now. A slow grin overtook her features as she scuttled out of her cave in her half-spider shape. _'Hmm, let's see … allodile, hermeneuta, larvek … Short of adding Vathek to the menu, I guess my next challenge is … a drix.'_ Her potential next meal firmly in mind, she set off for the Bog of Eternal Stench.

_Evil Does_

Cedric slithered through the wastelines of Torus Filney at a speed assuredly unsafe for a normal reptile his size. With his greater density and commensurate durability, he feared little that could pop up unexpectedly in the prison sewers.

'_Like now,'_ he mused as another of the local blue rodents appeared from an adjoining pipe. With a practiced flick of his tail, Cedric rolled to the side, snapped back into the mouse's path, and smothered it in his coils. Pausing just long enough to eat it, (he hadn't had a _real_ meal in a week, after all,) he continued on his way. Daylight showed wanly soon enough, and he slid out of the waste pipe and to blessed freedom with a toothy grin.

Finding Miranda's week-old trail took him a while. Finally, Cedric sniffed out a scrap of her old blanket stuck on a fencepost. Looking up, he saw the distant Torruk Hills, where he was sure Miranda had hidden herself to wait out her molt. He followed.


End file.
